Chicks Heart Fights

First off, Comcast is not my friend. The feed was screwed up for the first fight, and so I missed it. If the feed would not have been back in time for the Huerta/Florian fight, it would not have been pretty. Actually, maybe it would have been better if I didn’t see it.

Roger never really seemed to find his groove during the fight. He just didn’t look like the energetic fighter that I’m used to. He was pushing the pace a bit in the second, but he was not impressive. Ken-Flo looked great, and he deserved the win.

Manny vs. Rob ended quickly with a beautiful right by Rob Emerson, and Manny was out like the Comcast feed earlier tonight. Emerson’s hat is ugly. Emerson’s hat always make him look 12. Emerson is gracious in winning.

It’s been a weird collection of entrance music tonight. Outside of Huerta’s El Matador, it’s been pretty bad. Dan Evensen’s is just bizarre.

Joe Rogan calls the UFC more cool than the Olympics. I STRONGLY disagree Joe.

Cheick Kongo has one of the top 5 bodies in the UFC. He kicked some booty tonight.

I wonder who would win in Trivial Pursuit between Brock Lesnar and Heath Herring?

From working NCAA’s, I’ve walked behind Brock Lesnar, and he is one of the most massive human beings that I’ve ever been around. He’s like a damn Mack Truck. I think if I ran my Hyundai into him, my car would catch the brunt of the damage.

Heath Herring will need to explain to me how a long leather jacket is a cowboy fashion.

Brock Lesnar seems to be having a blast in the UFC. I like to watch a fighter who truly enjoys fighting. Lesnar doesn’t need the money, so he’s doing it because he likes it.

Who has the better accent, GSP or Michael Bisping?

GSP was just plain old dominant, but I did not like BJ coming in at the end. That took away GSP’s moment. Of course he’ll fight you, BJ. He’s a professional.

First impressions, sort of influenced by the High Life. The Champagne of Beers. Anyway. I have a new bar to watch the fights. It’s the Tap Room and it rocks. Good beer, good prices, good crowd, no cover, I’m sold. Onto the fights…

Mendes vs. Thiago Silva: I’m naming my first child Thiago. Though Mendes had some pretty, baseball bat like kicks, Silva got on top and threw down some lovely punches and got the TKO in the first round. Thiago started out the good night for Brazilians.

Tito Ortiz vs. Lyoto Machida: Tito’s first bad sign was that his entrance music was “Mama Said Knock You Out.” For the record, that was the first CD that I ever bought, when I was ten. Enough said. Machida’s kicks were beautiful, as is to be expected. The end of the first round was a flurry, and Tito was quite literally saved by the bell. (Much like Zach Morris.) This fight had lots of stand up, and Yves Lavigne tripping over air. Machida escaped a triangle choke near the end of the third, and won 30-27. Good job, Mr. Brazilian! Tito was very classy in his post fight interview, and thanked the Fertittas. Where will we see Tito fight next? I was expecting to find out tonight.

Gouveia vs. Relijic: Do all Croatians go to the Cro Cop school of kicking? Because Relijic put up some pretty kicks. Relijic wins by TKO in the 2nd.

Jardine vs. Silva: I thought Silva was done. I thought he was ready to retire. I underestimated the night of Brazilians. Silva by KTFO over Jardine.

Salaverry vs. Palhones: How great was that sub? Salaverry was so focused on avoiding the rear naked choke that he didn’t notice the arm bar coming from ten miles away.

Sean Sherk vs. BJ Penn: BJ comes out to Bali Hai. (Not really, but it sounded like that.) Sherk did not come out to Happy Talk . The stand up in this fight was excellent, and Sherk clearly planned on standing up. It’s not a good idea to go to the ground with a BJJ expert like BJ. My notes say about the first round: WOWZA. Lots of jabbing, lots of punch exchanges. In the third round, BJ threw a beautiful knee, and finished with some great punches. BJ wins and keeps his title.

A fantastic night of fights-huzzah! I will write more when I have had a night of sleep.

Trying a little too hard on the title? Oh well. As promised, a round-up of predictions for this weekend’s UFC card, featuring Penn vs. Sherk for the lightweight belt, Jardine vs. Silva, Ortiz vs. Machida, and me against the music .

You can find my predictions here .  Around the web, the consensus is that Lyoto Machida will win over Tito Ortiz and Keith Jardine will win over Wanderlei Silva. The blogosphere does not agree on Sherk/Penn. Ben Fowlkes at Cage Potato proclaimed Sherk over Penn the unpopular opinion ; however, Michael David Smith at Fanhouse is picking Sherk. Actually, with the Penn/Sherk fight, I don’t see a fan favorite. Yes, Sherk did steroids, something that fans usually aren’t crazy about. At the same time, in the countdown to UFC 84 show on Spike, BJ said that he will lick the blood off of Sean Sherk. That isn’t really something that warms the cockles of a fanbase, either.  In fact, I have to get it off my chest - eww.

As for the predictions, here you are:

• Ben Goldstein at Cage Potato
• Performify’s thesis at MMA Junkie
• Michael David Smith at Fanhouse
• Fightlinker’s picks
• Lee Casebolt at Total MMA

So there you go. I will, of course, be writing about the results, so keep checking back over the weekend.

I still want the job of the guy who comes up with the names for the UFC events, but I don’t think I could have come up with a better name for this event, “Ill Will.” The fighters going into the Octagon this Saturday have massive chips on their shoulders. Sean Sherk is mad at the California State Athletic Commission, Tito Ortiz is mad at Dana White, BJ Penn is mad at the world, and Keith Jardine is mad at the person who gave him the nickname “the Dean of Mean.”

After the jump, my predictions and a few stories from around Blogfrica.

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My plan for Saturday was to go to work for a few hours in the late afternoon, and then come home on a ridiculously cold evening, relax, order UFC 80, and live blog it for you fine folks. Alas, I completely forgot that the fight was taking place in England, and I needed to watch it in the afternoon, not the evening, so I missed it. To make up for that blunder, I present a round-up of what other people are saying about the fights:

CNN/SI covered BJ’s win, Sherk’s jawing, and Gonzaga’s loss here.

The Fighting Life has a hysterical rundown. He points out the awkwardness of the Sherk/Penn post fight moment, and that Joe Rogan only made it more awkward. I’m shocked!

MMAJunkie has a full recap here, and a list of bonuses here.

Here is Cage Potato’s recap, complete with a really, really bloody pic of Penn/Stevenson. Think horsehead in the bed bloody. Five Ounces of Pain’s recap can be found here.

According to the Star-Bulletin, the UFC is in talks to host an outdoor event in Hawaii:

“I’m working on that right now as a matter of fact,” White said in an exclusive interview with the Star-Bulletin. “I’ve wanted to bring one there for a long time and now that we have acquired PRIDE, I think it’s the perfect time to do that big stadium because it would pull a lot of Americans and a lot of Japanese fans.”

I have three thoughts on this. One: with BJ Penn’s big win over Jens Pulver, and Joe Lauzon’s recent move to Hawaii to train with BJ, it would make sense to see BJ’s next big fight in the Aloha State. Since he will most likely move up a weight class, I’d like to see him take on Hughes again, or Matt Serra.

Two: the heat and humidity will play a part in an outdoor fight, so I’m looking forward to see how training camps will deal with this new aspect of an outdoor event. How will this also affect weight cutting?

My final thought: what better reason for a vacation in Hawaii than a UFC event?